View full sizeA photo of a young Chris Christie as a baseball player for Livingston High School.Livingston High School Yearbook

TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie will relive his childhood glory days later this month as one of this year’s inductees into the Little League Hall of Excellence, the organization announced yesterday.

Christie will share the honor with his childhood friend and Little League teammate from Livingston, the author Harlan Coben. The two men, who have remained friends over the years, were coached by the governor’s father, Bill, in the mid-1970s.

“Moments spent on the Little League field being coached by my father and playing with my good friend Harlan are some of my greatest childhood memories,” Christie said in a statement issued by Little League Baseball and Softball. “It is an honor to be inducted into the Little League Hall of Excellence, and receiving this recognition with Harlan and my father makes it even more special.”

Christie will travel to Williamsport, Pa., on Aug. 25 to accept the honor in a ceremony before the 2013 Little League Baseball World Series Championship Game.

Baseball is a Christie family tradition. His late mother’s family excelled at the nation’s pastime and the governor’s eldest son, Andrew, now plays for the Princeton varsity team, thanks to his dad’s encouragement.

Bill Christie, who now lives in Waretown, on Barnegat Bay, said that photographs of Christie in his Little League all-star uniform were destroyed by Hurricane Sandy’s floodwaters.

Yesterday, the governor’s father recalled something Christie said to him when Andrew was 8 years old.

“Dad, it’s hot out, I’m sweaty,” Bill Christie said in a telephone interview, quoting his son. “I’m driving up the driveway. And Andrew’s waiting for me with a bat and ball and glove. I’m going to go play with him. And you know why? Because that’s what you did … It was a great phone call. It was one of those phone calls that makes dads live longer.”

Bill Christie, 80, coached the governor and Coben for four years, and later did the same thing for Christie’s younger brother, Todd.

The Christies practiced in the front yard, and the elder Christie said they “were good players and easy kids to coach.”

He said the governor hit more than 15 home runs during his Little League career, and went on to play in high school.

Christie, who was the catcher, and Coben, who played first base and the outfield, will be the 46th and 47th inductees respectively into the Hall of Excellence. according to the Little League organization.

“To be able to recognize two distinguished individuals who have achieved so much in their professional and public service careers, and who started their lifelong friendship on the same Little League team is a unique opportunity for our program,” Stephen D. Keener, president and chief executive of Little League Baseball and Softball, said in statement.

Christie also shares the honor with a past inductee and his musical hero, Bruce Springsteen, who often invokes his days on the Freehold Little League field during his shows.

Other politicians in the hall include former President George W. Bush, Vice President Joe Biden, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Sen. Bill Bradley of New Jersey.

Coben, who lives in Ridgewood today, has shared memories of his first Little League experience with Christie.

“… I’m standing there in my baggy green and white uniform, not sure what to do,” Coben wrote in a 2009 opinion piece for the New York Times. “A roly-poly kid in catcher’s gear sees my hesitation. He hurries over with a big smile, calls me by my name, tells me how excited he is that I’m finally ready to play. He introduces himself. His name is Chris Christie.”